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Home , Barrowfield, Textile printing, Turkey red

Turkey AN INTRODUCTION introduction

The first printed fabrics were produced in and around 4000 years ago although it was only in the tenth century that arrived in Europe. It was not until printing became cheaper that it became popular; patterns were usually the result of or . The industrial revolution produced huge advances in technology which made the production of fabric much cheaper and easier.

As the industrial revolution in summer months. Seasonal workers from gained pace, the textile became Argyll were employed as there were very affected by the pollution in the air and few inhabitants of the Vale at this time. water. Clean air and water were needed so that cloth and could be washed was becoming increasingly and dried, a process that had to be done popular as changed from heavy outdoors. The Vale of Leven provided materials, especially , to light, easily plenty of clean water as the fast-flowing washable fabrics. This was partly due to River Leven originated in Loch Lomond the expansion of trade with the US, which and the rural air was clear. increased the amount of cotton available. The first cotton arrived in Glasgow in the Andrew Johnstone established the first 1760s and by the 1830s linen in the Vale at Dalquhurn in manufacture had disappeared from 1715 these were acquired, in 1728, by Glasgow as cotton took over. As the Walter Stirling and Archibald Buchanan fashion for cotton developed, demand who established the Dalquhurn Bleaching grew for it to be dyed and printed so Company and extended the bleachfields that the cloth could be made into to more than 12 acres. clothing etc. Bleaching became only one step in the process. Early works were simply fields intersected by channels of water with The first printworks in the Vale were rows of beech hedge between them. The established at Levenfield by Todd, cloth was spread out on the grass and Shortridge and Company. Two years water from the channels, as well as soured later, in 1730, William Stirling, nephew milk, was sprinkled over it. The hedges of Walter, moved his printworks from prevented the cloth from being blown to Renton. He feued the lands about. This was a seasonal activity as of the Cordale Printworks and then took cloth could only be outside during the over Dalquhurn Works for bleaching. Printing, at this time, was either by block By the beginning of the nineteenth printing or pencilling. century block printing was being overtaken my the copper roller method Block printing originated in Asia over of printing and, for a while, the methods 4000 years ago and was the most were used together. Today only printing widespread form of printing until the for exclusive designs would use the block early nineteenth century. It is a very printing method. versatile printing method capable of producing a variety of colour effects and Pencilling was widely used in India where patterns. The earliest blocks had designs a brush or pen was used to paint cut into their surface which could be onto the fabric. These began to be surprisingly intricate. The main imported into Europe in the late sixteenth development in block printing was the century where the floral motifs formed use of metal pins and strips hammered the basis of the early printed designs in into the surface of the block to form the Europe. Pencilling supplemented block designs. Metal castings followed which printing and was popular until the early fitted together on the block, these were nineteenth century. cheaper but could only be used for designs repeating a small pattern.

The fabric was gummed to a flat table and the colour was applied to the block by the printer’s assistant, who was often a child. The block was placed carefully on the fabric before being struck with the shaft of a hammer, known as a maul. A different block was needed for each colour. methods of printing

The technical term for a method of printing is a style. There are four main styles, these are: • Discharge • Direct • Resist • Dyed

Discharge Style prevent the dye being absorbed. In , This involves the fabric initially being the areas are covered with which is dyed all one colour. A paste (called a removed after , a method very discharge paste) is then applied which common in Java and West Africa. Tie will destroy the colour, either by itself, or and dye is another method of the resist when submerged into a vat of another style in which the fabric is tied around chemical. The areas where the colour with a small cord. This method is still disappears are called discharged. These used in Africa, especially Nigeria, and was can be over printed with other colours extremely popular in Europe for much of or a colour can sometimes be added to the nineteenth century when a thick the discharge paste, which will paste of gum or pipeclay was used to simultaneously bleach one colour and make a pattern. add another. Dyed Style Direct Style This method was used in ancient Egypt In this process, the colour is printed onto and was still of great importance in the the fabric. The print paste contains the nineteenth century. It is based on the dye together with any other chemical use of that need a to fix that is necessary to fix the colour to the them onto the fabric. By using the same fabric fibres. The style was used very little dye but in different strengths and until the development of synthetic dyes. different a wide variety of It is the most important style in use today, colours could be produced. This method when many fabrics are now printed with involves printing the fabric with a rather than dyes. The process mordant followed by immersion in a dye is cheap but not easy and the results are and then washing. This style was mainly sometimes not of the highest quality. used with the dye madder and Turkey Red is a good example of the use of this Resist Style style. This involves masking areas of fabric to the introduction of turkey red

George Mackintosh introduced Turkey Red to in 1785. He invited Pierre Jacques Papillon, a chemist from Rouen, to Scotland to show him the dyeing process. They set up Works (later renamed Barrowfield) with David Dale and this became the first Turkey Red works. At this stage, only plain Turkey Red cloth and yarn were dyed.

In 1805 they sold to Henry Monteith who manufacturers had to weave checked already possessed a Turkey Red factory cloth with yarn that was already dyed in Blantyre as well as a factory in and then put the woven cloth through Bridgeton. By 1823 he could produce 224 the process. Patterns were added handkerchiefs every ten minutes and when customers took their fabrics to a exported most of them to Europe, where shop or dye works and selected patterns instead of being known as pullicates, they from the pattern . Designs were were known as Monteiths. The pattern printed using carved wooden blocks with of the handkerchiefs - red with white a different block for each colour, or spots - became internationally famous engraved copper plates. In 1783 Thomas and bandanas and scarves were also Bell of Glasgow invented a process that produced. These were first made using printed continuous lengths of cloth but the tie-dyeing method and were this was not widely used until the imitations of earlier imports from Bengal. nineteenth century.

It was not until 1827 when the next major At this time, only cotton yard could be breakthrough occurred. The Croftingea dyed. The reason for this is that the oil Works announced that it had produced (mordant) used to bind the yarn and the dyed yarn in a commercial process and dye had to be applied evenly. Woven this was closely followed by Dalquhurn material could only be dyed after 1810 the following year (which, by 1850, was when there were improvements in the using 130,000 gallons of bulls’ blood process. The yarn was taken to the dye annually). By the late 1820s the Vale of works by the cotton factories, dyed and Leven was well known for the production then returned to their factories. By the of Turkey Red. end of the nineteenth century cotton, and were being produced Production costs could be kept down if and the Vale had developed into a the cotton yarn could be woven and dyed specialised industry. red afterwards. In the eighteenth century By the 1830s cloth printed in two colours The in the Vale was split became the main material for the clothing into two groups: of working class women. With the invention of new technology, the • The Turkey Red group consisting of development of new dyes and printing Croftingea, Levenbank, Cordale, methods, colourful fabrics became Dalquhurn and Dillichip available to everyone. • The Calico Printers’ Group of Dalmonarch, Levenfield, Ferryfield and In 1835, John Orr Ewing leased Croftingea Kirkland. and was so successful that he retired ten years later with a mansion and estate he There were many different types of job bought for £20,000. He gave his brother, in the works including printers, engravers, Archibald, enough capital to lease pattern drawers and cutters, colourmen, Levenbank Works. He named the dyers, bleachers, steamers, tearers, company Orr Ewing. He went on to buy machine men, hurlie men, stove men, Milton in 1850 and Dillichip in 1866. yarners, folders, cutters, ticketers, parcelers John Orr Ewing returned from retirement and finishers. in 1860, buying the Works at Croftingea and Levenfield, which he amalgamated The US Civil War (1861-5) reduced cotton under the name of Alexandria Works, supplies to Scotland from 8,700 tonnes always known locally as The Craft. (17,055 cwt) in 1861 to 366 tonnes (7,216 cwt) in 1864. This was a period of major In the early 1860s the three largest firms hardship for the companies in the Vale were: John Orr Ewing, Archibald Orr until India and West Africa became major Ewing and William Stirling. Between exporters. They also imported the finished them they employed 6000 workers who goods along with Morocco, the produced 25,000 lb of yarn and 10,000 Philippines, Japan, China and South Africa. pieces of cloth per day. Their buildings This would lead to major problems later covered 10 acres of ground. The industry on. had a massive impact on the population of the Vale, between 1860 and 1891 it rose from 120 to 19,635.

Factory Children Children Women Men Total below 12 12-15 Levenbank, 100 30 97 188 415 Milton & Dillichip Dalmonarch 800 Number of employees Levenfield 2000 per factory from New Alexandria 104 142 192 438 Statistical Account 1839 Patterns varied depending on the market. It was all too late. Ferryfield and Milton They could include abstract, geometric closed in 1915, Levenbank, Dalmarnock or floral motifs; peacocks, elephants, and Dillichip in 1930, Cordale and dancing girls and locally significant Dalquhurn in 1942 and The Craft in 1960, patterns. Feedback was always being sent when the assets were purchased by the from Scottish agents abroad as to what Calico Printer’s Association, ending 250 was fashionable and acceptable. years of textile industry in the Vale.

In the 1880s there were fifteen Turkey Red companies in the Vale, using extracted from the madder plant. German factories had a monopoly on the production of artificial alizarin, which drove prices down as it was considerably cheaper. This was compounded by restrictive tariffs on imports in India introduced in the 1890s. In response The United Turkey Red Company (UTR) was formed in 1897 uniting William Stirling, Alexander Reid and the two Orr Ewing brothers.

The chairman was John Hyde Christie, who was the first qualified chemist at the John Orr Ewing Company in 1856. In 1900 they bought Alexander Reid and Sons. The UTR tried the new colours - naphthol , available from the 1920s but found that the old system was much better. UTR developed the JF process, invented by J F Christie, the son of the chairman. He drastically reduced the time of process dyeing. processes

Bleaching Mordanting Early bleach works were simply fields Once the cloth had been bleached it was intersected by channels of water with printed. The cotton or linen was printed rows of beech hedge between them. The with a mordant so that, when immersed hedges prevented the cloth from being in the vat of dye, it reacted to produce blown about. The cloth was spread out waterproof, permanent areas of colour. on the grass and water from the channels The dye was taken up by the was sprinkled over it. This was a seasonal unmordanted areas but could then be activity, but could take about four months, washed out. Depending on the type of cloth could only be outside during the mordant, different shades could be summer months. produced. Most mordants are metal salts which form a bridge between the dye It was not until the chloride of lime and the cloth. The most popular is alum process was discovered by Charles which produces red from madder, but Tennant from Glasgow in 1749 that iron could be used with cedar, logwood bleaching became independent of the or on its own to create dull colours and weather and could be carried out indoors blacks and browns. Copper brought out in a day. Later, chemicals such as chloride . and sulphuric acid were also used. Between 1728-1768, the bleaching The printer used a block containing one process stopped being an end in itself mordant down the whole length of the and became part of a production process. cloth and then repeated the process with a different block and mordant. Mordants Boiling off was the first stage in the based on different strengths of alum and Turkey Red process. Cloth arrived in a eron produced red, browns and purples. grey state and was washed in vats of Yellow and drabs were produced by boiling water with bleach to take the mordants containing weld. was stiffness out of the material. This was pencilled in with a brush by using indigo stirred with poles. It was then left in piles and were made by pencilling to go into a dryer which was about 10ft indigo in over yellow. This task was high and 6ft across. Once the cloth was normally carried out by women or girls. dry, it left the department. To save money, yellows were often blocked or printed in to avoid additional dyeing but the yellow dye in this method was fugitive and in many eighteenth century , this has almost entirely disappeared. The cloth was then left for a few days so that the mordant could Patterning bind with the cloth. Eventually, steam Patterns where, at first, simple designs was used to set up the mordant in a using three colours. This was done by process called aging. This also removed hand, and printing blocks cut out by a extra mordant or thickening agents left block cutter. Printing blocks were either on the surface before it was dyed in the or were made up of copper inlaid vat. with . The maximum size was 460mm square. Pins on the end of each block Dyeing allowed them to be placed on a track so Then came immersion in the vat of dye that all the patterns were correctly to which dung, urine and blood could be aligned. A different block was required added to make the mordant active. This for each colour in the pattern. The spaces was called animalising. By the second between the lines were cut away leaving half of the nineteenth century, the dyeing the design standing in relief, as in letter agent in madder - alizarin could be press printing. The colour was then extracted in a concentrate and applied applied to the surface of the block and as a paste in a steam chamber. It was the coloured block pressed down on the not until 1870 that Turkey Red could be cloth. The pigments for printing were produced artificially, this was known as mixed with , gum or varnish so that para red. The dyeing process took three the colour was in a viscous state and and a half hours in the 1840s and three didn’t run from the raised portions of the dyes per day were often completed by block. Additional colours were applied the teams of a man and a boy per vat. by a brush. The first block printing was done at Levenfield. Thomas Bell invented New mordants could be applied after the a method of engraving the pattern onto cloth was dried. Henry Monteith a copper cylinder - the ‘roll method’ in improved on a process where several 1783 although it wasn’t widely used until colours could be fixed to fabric at one the middle of the nineteenth century. time, enabling quicker production of his The rollers were printed with a tar-like handkerchiefs. He used a perforated press substance and the unpainted bits etched in which layers of cloth were stretched with acid. This method presented the and a discharge liquid poured through, foundation of the roller printing we still this led to fast, efficient production. The use today. colours used in discharge were limited to a bright citrus yellow, a bright mid blue Finishing and a mid green as well as black and After printing the cloth went into a white. This process was invented by steaming box, ammonia was then poured Koechlin of Mulhouse in 1810. in which brightened the colours. The cloth was then sent to the calendaring department for gloss and then beetled by being hit with big metal or wooden hammers to produce a soft finish. the relocation and building of factories, towns grew up which relied on the local Hurlie men transported the newly dried Works for their existence. Renton was cloth in wagons to the folding women. founded in 1862 when Dalquhurn was They ranged from girls of fourteen to converted into a printworks women of fifty. Piles of cloth were separated and sorted; graded to size and Table showing how settlements fed into colour and pattern. Then they were then Works. trimmed and folded. Tickets were used for identification, marks of quality and Settlement Factories to indicate the destination and market Alexandria Croftingea for which the cloth was intended. Levenbank Ferryfield At the beginning of the nineteenth Bonhill Dalmonarch century the labels were black and white Kirkland Dillichip and were designed not to offend caste Jamestown Levenfield or religion and to appeal to as many Levenbank people as possible. These evolved into Dalmonarch colourful labels bearing the Renton Dalquhurn manufacturer’s name. They served as a Millburn brand trademark and built up a strong Cordale loyalty among customers. By the end of the nineteenth century, Hindu themes dominated the tickets as As technology progressed and work in they were the largest and wealthiest the area became less seasonal and more sector of the population, as well as being permanent, and as industrialisation in the the brokers and sellers of the cloth in the area continued, new transport links were bazaars. The tickets were usually 7x10 built. inches and bore the company name (which was translated into three or four Most heavy goods haulage was carried Indian languages) and had space at the out by water. Ships would sail down the bottom for the length of material in the Clyde from Glasgow and up the Leven to bale to be added. the tidal limit, which was just south of Dalquhurn when the would be Transport unloaded into barges or gabbarts. From When Andrew Johnstone first set up his here, the barges would be drawn by horses bleachfields, the Vale of Leven was remote upriver as far as Balloch. Communication and isolated with a population of 120. between factories was also by water, with Bonhill was the main settlement, hardly a network of chain ferries established for more than a hamlet. Alexandria, ease. Smaller loads would be taken by Jamestown and Renton didn’t exist. With road on carts to either Dumbarton or Glasgow after the River Leven was bridged at Dumbarton in 1765, providing direct road communication with Glasgow. The Alexandria-Bonhill bridge, opened in 1856, was the second important road development in the area and made communication even easier. People were charged 1/2d for passage until workers objected so much that this was abolished.

Perhaps the most useful transport was the railway. In 1850 the Bowling to Balloch line was completed. Each factory built their own sidings and developed internal rail networks. The transport of goods and people became easier and quicker. conditions in the towns

“They have only one room, about seven feet high, nine wide and perhaps eighteen long. Pretty well furnished, and a small garden. For breakfast and supper, porridge and a Scotch pint of skim milk, for dinner, broth made of a small piece of meat, or herring and oat cake and potatoes. The class of house inhabited by printers, generally contains four families, each family having a kitchen and one room. Two families live on the ground and two in the upper story.”

Conditions in the towns were extremely they were in extreme poverty, had to pay poor, the conditions described above are for the children to attend school, extremely basic by today’s standards. Yet Dalmonarch School charged 1s a month printers were highly prized employees for reading and 2d for each additional and paid at the top of the factory scale subject; pupils also had to pay for their after serving an apprenticeship of seven own pens and books. At Bonhill School, years. Conditions for field workers, at reading was 1s, 1s2d and the bottom of the hierarchy, would be arithmetic 1s4d. far worse. All houses were lit by rushlight and it wasn’t until the 1880s that water William Leggatt, a teacher at Dalmonarch, was pumped from Loch Lomond for states that “he has known cases of boys indoor washing and toilet facilities. sent to work at six years old.” John Before this, families were drinking the McLeish reports that his sister started polluted water from the Leven. tearing at five and a half years old.

All members of the family were required For children and others who worked to work to bring enough money in for during the day, night school was provided. survival. However, children could still go Again, there was no target age range. to school. Many went to school from The 1843 Commission records three block the age of five, although some schools printers attending night school to learn had no minimum age. Children were Latin so that they might go to theological taught to read first of all, and if they college. The Parish School at Bonhill had stayed on until they were eight they 40 pupils at the night class. Many Works’ would learn writing and arithmetic. Most owners and foremen tried to make an did not, usually, the only children that effort to see that the shift finished on did stay on to learn were the children of time so that children could attend night foremen or shopkeepers. Families, unless school although this was not always possible. Hugh McTaggart reported that List of the main union events and strikes: his son, aged twelve “Has not been home till one o’clock, it June 1816 Strike at Dalmonarch over pay. was not to say one night of the week, it was regular for about three months. The May 1879 boy receives 6d a day and regular hours Female workers at Croftengea, Milton are from six to seven at night and two and Dillichip strike as the Factory Act hours for meals.” reduces the paid working week to 56 hours. The working day for everyone was February 1896 upwards of twelve hours so that the Cylinder Printers’ Amalgamated Union children were “just that way at night, demands a rise in wages. they are hardly able to stand.” January 1911 600 girls meet to form a branch of The Whole communities were governed by National Federation of Women Workers. the sound of bells. Bells rang before work started to announce that the gates to the February 1911 Works were closing, bells rang for lunch 300 men form a branch of The and again for the afternoon shift. If you Amalgamated Society of Dyers, Bleachers, Finishers and Kindred missed getting in the gate you were Societies. docked 15 minutes worth of pay, or quartered. If you lost more than an hour’s December 1911 worth of pay in a month, you were sacked. The first textile strike settled by the Board of Trade. It was only in 1911 that workers of both April 1931 sexes were unionised. The women formed National strike of The Amalgamated a branch of The National Federation of Society of Dyers, Bleachers, Finishers Women Workers and the men formed a and Kindred Societies. branch of The Amalgamated Society of May 1931 Dyers, Bleachers, Finishers and Kindred Strike settled. Societies. June 1934 Over 3000 members of the Amalgamated Society of Dyers, Bleachers, Finishers and Kindred Societies strike to gain a minimum wage of 1/- (5p) per hour for men and 8d (4p) per hour for women over 18. Also demand a working week of 54 hours. Oral history states that: store. In the printing shed the temperature was 76 degrees Fahrenheit. There were a lot of radical people Arms and fingers were lost as the printing around at that time (1930), radical machines were cleaned while still in political people, but they just didn’t motion. Another oral history report states have the guts to stand up. If you did that: stand up, you were out the gate. You just got bagged on the spot. They There was this worker who went allowed us a quarter of an hour, last missing. It only when they opened up thing on Friday night before the horn, the lade at the summer holidays to to go around and collect our union let the settling tanks into the river money that they found him. That was not long after Christmas and they got him And that: after the fair holidays (July). The printers were tin gods; you Apparently the dyes preserved him couldn’t get enough printers. They well. always got their rise, but the lower workers were always underpaid. The UTR were always bad payers.

Rate of pay 1843:

Position Pay per month £.s.d bleacher 0.18.0 cylinder engraver 3.0.0 printer 3.15.0 tearer 0.2.6 finisher 0.6.0

Working in any of the Works was an extremely dangerous job. Streamers spent most of the day in the Leven, washing cloth. The youngest were fifteen. Dyers had to climb inside the coppers to clean them and also had to set up the kindling so that the dye would be boiling, at this stage of the process, the temperature could be 110 degrees Fahrenheit in the biographies

George Mackintosh William Stirling Mackintosh was a successful manufacture Was born in 1717. In 1769 S Turnbull, of another dyestuff, cudbear which was Arthur and Company moved to only suitable for dyeing and , Cottingsea. Stirling followed, moving to neither of which were major Glasgow the Vale of Leven at Dalsholm, from industries, while cotton was developing Glasgow due to the cleaner air and pure swiftly. He was also a successful chemist, water from Loch Lomond. He started inventing the first waterproofing for producing Turkey Red in 1828. Cloth had fabrics. His partner, David Dale also came to be dried outside as it wasn’t until the from a successful 1830s that a method of cloth drying background and went on to establish the inside was invented. They started Turkey famous cotton mills at New Lanark. Red dyeing at Dalquhoun and printed Papillon became a partner in their calico at Cordale. The demand for staff company and they opened a new dye created Renton. In 1876 Stirling sold his factory at Dalmarnock in 1785. Dale and factory and it become the property of Macintosh sold their factory at the Wylie brothers. In 1886 they Dalmarnock to Henry Monteith, Bogle employed 7000 people and dyed and and Company in 1805 and it was renamed printed 150 million metres of cloth. Barrowfield. Before Papillon, the Turkey Red process was little understood and there was a tendency to buy impure The Orr Ewings ingredients and chemicals to cut cost, In the mid 19th century, the industry was which led to failure. dominated by two brothers, Archibald and John Orr Ewing. They bought Cottingsea in 1835 and ten years later, Henry Monteith John Orr Ewing sold his share to retire. Monteith had factories in Bridgeton and Archibald formed his own company and Blantyre by 1789 where he was dyeing bought the Levenbank works from John Turkey Red. The purchase of Dalmarnock Stewart as well as the Milton works, which was the next step and by the 1820s he he bought in 1850. He continued until was the most powerful dyer in the Turkey 1860 when he offered the company back Red trade. In 1815 a process was invented to his brother who amalgamated to bleach white spots for bandannas and Croftingea and Levenbank under the name handkerchiefs automatically and by 1823 Alexandria Works, although it was known Montheith’s works could produce 224 locally as The Craft. He died in 1878. handkerchiefs in 10 minutes. In the 1830s his monopoly ended with his death. bibliography

Primary Sources Tarrant Naomi E A, L’Industrie du rouge Children’s Employment Commission, turc dans l’ouest de l’Ecosse Second Report of the Commissioners. Trade and Manufacturers. HM Stationery WDC, Turkey Red: The Story of Fabric Office (1843) Dyeing in the Vale of Leven (2005)

WDC Dept of and Cultural Secondary Sources Services, Industries on the Leven, Rock, Agnew, John. Great Days of Turkey Red, Water, Steel. Reprint from the Dumbarton Reporter, Dumbarton District Libraries (1981) Websites Arthur Liz, Printing and Turkey Red Dyeing on www.scottishtextiles.org www.color-expertise.org

Arthur Liz, Askari Nazreen, The Trade in www.geocities.com/turkeyredtrust Uncut Cloth, Uncut Cloth: Saris Shawls and Sasttes, Merrell Holberton (1999) www.mfa.org

Doherty Charles G, The growth and decline www.nahste.ac.uk of the bleaching, printing and dyeing industry in the Vale of Leven www.theglasgowstory.com

Montague Gemma, The Printing and www.threadsintyme.tripod.com Dyeing Industry in the Vale of Leven, Glasgow School of Art unpublished dissertation (2000)

Tarrant Naomi E A, Turkey Red Dyeing in the Vale of Leven in Scottish Textile Industry, Butt John, Pointing Kenneth (eds) turkey red recipe 1818

John Lightfoot Dissolve the pearl ashes in 40 gallons of soft water and the lime in 56 gallons. Let all the liquors stand till they become Step 1 or Cleansing Operation quite wet and then mix 40 gallons of each. Boil the cotton in the mixture five For 100 lbs of cotton take hours then wash in running water and 100 lbs of oilicans barcilla dry it. 20 lbs of pearl ashes 100 lbs of - lime Step II or Grey Steep Take a significant quantity (40 gallons) Mix the barcilla with soft water in a deep of the strong barcilla water in a tub and tub having a small hole near its bottom dissolve in it eight gallons of sheeps’ dung, which is to be stopped at first with a peg then pour into two quart bottles of but covered within by a cloth supported sulphuric acid, one pound of by two sticks or bricks, in order that the and one pound of sal ammoniac, both ashes may be hindered from wither previously dissolved in a sufficient running through the hole or choking it, quantity of weak barcilla water, and lastly, while the Lime filters through it. Under twenty five pounds of Gallipole oil which the tub another is to be placed to receive has been previously dissolved, or well the Laye (lye) and pure water is to be mixed, and 8 gallons of weak barcilla replaced by half again through the first water. tub to form layers of different strength, which are to be kept separate till the Note - it is highly important after this strength has been examined. The and each of the succeeding operations, strongest required for use must swim or that the cotton should be thoroughly and float an egg and is called the lye of six completely dryed by a stove heat, that of degrees of the French hydrometer or the open air in this climate not being Areometer of Baume. The weakest are sufficient, even in the summer. afterwards brought to this strength by papering them through fresh barcilla; but Step III The Which Steep a certain portion of the lye which is to This part of the process is precisely the mark two degrees of the above same as the last in every particular, except hydrometer must be reserved for that the sheeps’ dung is omitted in the dissolving the oil, the gum and the salt composition of the steep which are used in subsequent parts of the process. The lye of two degrees is Step IV The Gall Steep considered the weak Barcilla liquor , the Boil 25 lbs of Galls bruised in 40 gallons other the strong. of river water until 16 or 20 gallons be boiled away; strain the liquor into a tub the cotton and boil it gently one hour and pour cold water on the Galls in the longer, and lastly, wash and dry it. strainer, to wash out all their tincture. Take out so much of the boiling liquor as As soon as the liquor is become milk- will leave the Remainder only milk-warm. warm, dip the cotton into it husk by husk, When mixed with as much fresh water handling it carefully all the time, and let as may be required to make up the 112 it steep 24 hours, then wring it carefully gallons, as at first, then proceed to make and equally and dry it well without up a dyeing liquor as before, for the next washing. ten pounds of cotton and so proceed in occupation with the whole. Step V First Alum Steep Dissolve 25lbs of Roman Alum in 56 Step VIII The Fixing Steep gallons of warm water, without making Mix equal parts of the grey steep liquor it boil, stirring the liquor well, and add and of the white steep liquor, taking 20- eight gallons of strong barcilla water and 24 gallons of each. (Put) down the cotton then let it cool until it be luke-warm. into this mixture and let it steep six hours, Dip your cotton and tumble it husk by then wring it moderately and equally and husk and let it steep 24 hours, wring it dry it without washing. out equally and dry it well without washing. Step IX Brightening Steep Ten pounds of white soap must be Step VI The Second Alum Steep dissolved carefully and completely in from This is performed, in every particular like 64 to 72 gallons of warm water because the last but when the cotton is dry, steep if any little bits of soap remain undissolved it six hours in the River, and then wash they will make stripes in the cotton. Add it and dry it again. to this 16 gallons of strong Barcilla water and stir it well. Sink the cotton in the Step VII Dyeing Steep liquor, keeping it down with crop sticks, The cotton is dyed in parcels of about and cover it up; boil gently two hours, 10lb at once for which take about two when being washed and dryed, it will be gallons and a half of ox blood and mix finished. in the copper with 112 gallons of milk, warm water, which are to be well stirred; then add 25lb of Turkey Madder (rubia perogrina) and stir the whole well together; then having beforehand put the 10lbs of cotton on sticks, dip it into the light and move and turn it constantly one hour, during which gradually increase the Heat so that the liquor may begin to boil at the end of the hour. Then sink At Rouen in France they boil the cotton NB. Mr Vitalis reports that the stove heat five or six hours with six or eight pounds for drying the cotton ought not to be of white soap, previously dissolved in 145 (more) than 158 degrees of Fahrenheit gallons of water and in the vessel covered thermometer. at the top so as to leave a very small opening for the necessary escape of the and may with care, be steam; which might otherwise occasion made to receive the Turkey Red Dye as an Explosion. The effect of this well as yarn or thread, and truly also be (immersion) with soap is to dissolve and variegated by a preservation of white separate from the cotton all the yellowish spots - for if previous to the dyeing brown part of the Madder colour which operation, a strong paste of oxalic or lime may have been applied to it in the dyeing acid be laid on the parts intended to be operation; and by this operation to preserved while, the mordant will be change the colour from dull brownish discharged in those parts which all the Red, which would otherwise remain, to remained of the piece will remain as a bright lively colour nearly equal in that before, and, when dyed. Where the paste of the finest cochineal . is laid will be white and all the rest red.

It is only by singular degree of fixity which Bancroft’s Philosophy of Permanent the pure red part of the madder colour Colours in two vols 1813 requires, in consequence of the operations just described, that this beautiful Red can be stained: for though the Reds given from Madder in Calico Prints, are sufficiently available for all commercial works, they are not fixed sufficiently to bear without injury that extent of boiling with soap, which is necessary to separate the yellowish-brown part of the colour and produce the pure Vivid Red which results from the operations under consideration. Such, indeed, is the stability of the Turkey Red, which well dyed, that some of the Persons employed in dyeing have reported that their colours would sustain boiling with soap for the space of 36 hours without injury.